Review

Geoffrey Todd Smith at Western Exhibitions

Written by Andrew Katz Katz

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Geoffrey Todd Smith recently opened his third solo show at Western Exhibitions entitled Looker. The show features an array of vibrant, uber-meticulous enamel/gouache/ink paintings on panel. The new group of paintings is a slight departure from his previous body of work of edge-to-edge pattern-fields, now employing a larger pattern within the micro-pattern; often these larger patterns resemble the irregular compositions of Gee’s Bend quilts.  In some moments the paintings are strikingly vivid, with neons and vibrating colors that create a push and pull with the foreground and background; other times the paintings are entirely about clever nuances within the surface textures, glossiness, and composition. - Josh Reames, Chicago Contributor
Installation
Installation
Geoffrey Todd Smith  | The Secret Desirer, acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 48”x36”
Geoffrey Todd Smith  | Phantom Liminal, acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 48”x36”
Geoffrey Todd Smith | Indecent Docent, acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 36”x36”
Geoffrey Todd Smith | Dressing Bethany  - acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 48”x36”
Holistically, Geoffrey’s show reads as an incredibly sincere exploration of the formal aspects of painting. However, that sincerity should not be confused with some dull rehash of modernist painting-rules; a sharp sense of humor comes out in the clever, sardonic, and occasionally self-deprecating titling. Titles such as A Freeway to a Three-Way and A Wester Easter are prime examples of titles that don’t aim to illustrate the paintings, nor do the paintings illustrate the titles; instead, they accent each other - in both mood and rhythm. Ultimately, his use of titles is less of a declaration of content, and more of a use of wordplay as a verbal reflection of the visual trickery.
Geoffrey Todd Smith | Show Me All of Your Piercings and I’ll Tell You All of My Dreams, acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 36”x36”
Installation
Geoffrey Todd Smith | A Freeway to a Three-Way, acrylic, gouache and ink on panel, 24”x18”
Geoffrey Todd Smith | A Wester Easter  -  acrylic, gouache and ink on panel  -  20”x16”
Looker will be on view through October 20th, go see the show and be sure to check out Josh Mannis’ work in Gallery 2. --- Geoffrey Todd Smith is a Chicago-based artist whose work has recently been included in solo shows at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles and Nudashank in Baltimore and in group shows at The Green Gallery in Milwaukee, the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, Geoffrey Young Gallery in Massachusetts and Baer Ridgway in San Francisco. He will have work up concurrently with this show in “Afterimage” at the DePaul Art Museum, running through November 18. His work has been written about in art ltd, the Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Magazine, who called him one of the "rising stars we should be collecting now." Smith lives and works in Chicago. Josh Reames is an artist living and working in Chicago
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Andrew Katz Katz

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